Speaking at FITC: Toronto!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Mobile Connect: Canceled

There was a mobile conference called "Mobile Connect" that was schedule for March 10-14 in Santa Clara. This conference was recently canceled for unspecified reasons. I should say that it has been "postponed", but in my opinion, when you postpone an event with no new scheduled date, then it's really just canceled.

This does bring some concern to me, as FITC:Mobile is still moving ahead for September. Clearly, there are many reasons why a conference such as this may fail.

I tried to find out the cost of this conference, but since it's been postponed, the only pricing information left on their site is that if you need to cancel your registration, there is a $150.00 USD administration fee that is non-refundable. This is already more than the Super Early Bird and Early Bird prices for FITC:Mobile.

Another thing I noticed is the types of sessions that were at Mobile Connect. The topics seem to be extremely technically oriented, specializing in very niche topics. While the sessions for FITC:Mobile are far from being finalized, it should be recognized that there have not been very many conferences targeting mobile developers, and as a result it is safe to assume that most developers are not long time mobile veterns, but rather they are developers who are slowly getting into developing for mobile. FITC:Mobile will have sessions that target all levels of developers, encouraging those who don't know to learn, and for those who do know to share.

Overall, it's unfortunate that Mobile Connect has been postponed. The mobile industry as a whole needs to have more successes than failures if it is to succeed.

FITC: Toronto has been a major succes for 8 years now, and it is hoped that the Toronto location will help spur the success of FITC: Mobile.